After taking office, the new president of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, along with his family greet the public. Photo: Secretariat of Communications.

On 10 December, Mauricio Macri became the new president of Argentina, a position held for the last eight years by Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. After the 25 October elections failed to deliver any of the candidates the majority required by the Argentinian Constitution, the two candidates who received the most votes, Daniel Scioli of then ruling party and Macri of the PRO party as part of the Cambiemos coalition, went to a second round of elections on 22 November.

The political transition had its fair share of controversy. This was due to the change of leadership protocol which, according to the Argentinian Constitution, says that the swearing-in ceremony of new presidents must be held in Congress. Tradition dictates that after being sworn in, the new leader then receives the presidential sash and baton in the Casa Rosada (Presidential Palace), the seat of the government.

The only presidents who have not followed the tradition are Nestor Kirchner and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

A squabble over location

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner wanted both the swearing-in ceremony and the presidential sash and baton ceremony to happen in Congress, while Macri wanted to renew the custom of holding the latter at the Presidential Palace.

Due to the lack of agreement over how and where the baton and sash should be handed over, the situation quickly went viral on social media, with many Argentinians giving their opinion on what should be done:

Clearly the underlying issue is not something as trivial as the actual place where the handover occurs, but instead the huge expectation over what Kirchnerism has never been able to give up, the public. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's idea is to leave the political party, but she did not organise any events to such effect, not even a final address from the patio of the palmeras (part of the Presidential Palace) on the 9th, no, none of that. She is pretending that there is no welcoming celebration for the new president, but instead a goodbye celebration for her, and this includes all the seats of congress for the legislative assembly as well as the streets surrounding the Palace of the Argentinian National Congress.

Regarding the image of authority, let's not forget about [the late ex-President and husband of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner] Nestor Kirchner who got into power with 22% of the votes, and they all told him that he was going to be merely a puppet of the former president or that even I would be in charge… Where would he have needed to have been sworn in to generate an “image of authority”? Standing atop the table in the White Room in the Presidential Palace? Authority, and not its image, isn't earned at a swearing-in ceremony, and certainly not by shouting at a women on the phone…

A women who, besides being alone, wants to hand over leadership to the person who had the honour of being elected the president of all Argentinians and do so within the
constitutional framework which means Congress, which encapsulates the popular sovereignty and the federal representation of a democratic state.

Will the real Argentinian president please stand up?

Finally, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner made the decision not to attend the swearing-in ceremony in Congress due to a precautionary measure filed by the Cambiemos coalition, becoming the first Argentinian president not to attend the swearing-in ceremony of a democratically elected leader. The measure, upheld by a federal judge, meant that Fernandez de Kirchner's mandate ended on 10 December at midnight instead of 12 hours later at 12:59 pm, the argument being that if Macri was sworn in at noon, there could technically be two presidents for a moment.

This meant that for the 12 hours, President of the Senate Federico Pinedo was in charge of the country.

Former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said goodbye to the people, addressing the crowd amassed in the Plaza de Mayo (May Square). She asked God that “those who succeed us by the will of the people, within the next four years, in front of a square filled with people, can tell all Argentinians that they too can look them in the eyes.”

She mentioned it is her hope that “every one of the 42 million people of Argentina have a leader within them, and when they feel that those who they trusted and voted for betray them, they can take out their flag and work together for the popular empowerment of all our rights and freedoms”

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